Having serious issues with my first fishless cycle.

I started cycling my 75 gallon 6 weeks ago, everything was going great, after 1.5 weeks my ammonia was already converting to Nitrites, and I was having to re dose my ammonia up to 3ppm every day.

But now my tank wont convert the ammonia to nitrite, I have dosed ammonia ONCE in 2 weeks...

What could be going on here? I have my heat high, I have a large air stone creating a ton of aeration

The only thing I have read that I think could be the problem is my PH has dropped very low, I just tested with the API test and my PH doesnt doesnt get a reading on the LOW PH scale, its below 6. My PH out of the tap is about 7.5 and stays stable after 24 hours.

If the PH is the problem what are my options to raise it? Should I do a water change?

I was really hoping to be finished the cycle by now, and after my first 2 weeks I really thought I was going to have a nice smooth cycle, but its really stalled.

I am not an expert by any means, but here is my understanding. The bacteria use carbon to do their thing and will actually lower the KH of the water when breaking down large amounts of waste. Lower KH = lower PH. And I also understand that extremely low PH can inhibit the beneficial bacteria. So, knowing all of this, I think yes, do a water change and get the PH back up. After that make sure to do water changes accordingly to so that it does not drop below 7.

Hopefully the bacteria you had before isnt gone and your cycle will start back up, but it may take another week or two to see progress again.

After you start seeing your ammonia being converted, be aware that it is not uncommon for the second part of the cycle (nitrite -> nitrate) to take a bit longer than the first.

I started cycling my 75 gallon 6 weeks ago, everything was going great, after 1.5 weeks my ammonia was already converting to Nitrites, and I was having to re dose my ammonia up to 3ppm every day.

But now my tank wont convert the ammonia to nitrite, I have dosed ammonia ONCE in 2 weeks...

What could be going on here? I have my heat high, I have a large air stone creating a ton of aeration

The only thing I have read that I think could be the problem is my PH has dropped very low, I just tested with the API test and my PH doesnt doesnt get a reading on the LOW PH scale, its below 6. My PH out of the tap is about 7.5 and stays stable after 24 hours.

If the PH is the problem what are my options to raise it? Should I do a water change?

I was really hoping to be finished the cycle by now, and after my first 2 weeks I really thought I was going to have a nice smooth cycle, but its really stalled.

Any advice is very much appreciated

Idk what implications you are trying to draw by stating that you only dosed ammonia once this week. Are you saying that the ammonia levels have not dropped all week?

It took two weeks for the ammonia levels to drop to 0, I dosed back up to 3ppm 3 days ago and the levels havent dropped at all since I dosed.

Two weeks for ammonia to drop to zero sounds about right at which point there should be nitrites which are then converted to nitrAtes.
Too much ammonia can actually stall the process in nitrite stage and some reduce the amount of ammonia by 1/2 once nitrites appear for this reason(seem's to work for many) So however many drops you used to get 3ppm,you could decrease the drops by 1/2.
Other possible sources of ammonia are from organic break down in/on the substrate,some trapped in filter,fish foods,and or plant matter as it dies off.
Plants can help take up ammonia but there may be just too much ammonia and too few plants.
Could try reducing the ammonia as mentioned,reduce light intensity,and increase CO2 along with plant mass and see if thigs don't improve over a few week's.
At a pH of 6 I would not worry bout ammonia which is much less harmful ammonium at pH mentioned ,but would simply add more plants and stock the tank gradually while doing way with the ammonia dosing altogether.
Healthy plant's are best biological filter and are a good tool for managing a glass box of water that we begin polluting the moment we add fish.

It's been a while since I tried a fishless cycle, but I seem to remember it taking closer to two months than two weeks maybe longer to be honest.

If I were in your situation, I would probably change most of the water to sort of reset all the levels, then try dosing a small amount of ammonia (like just enough to show up on the test) and testing again in a few days to see if it's progressing.

Like AHGoodwin said I feel like once the nitrites started showing, it ended up being quite a bit later before the nitrates started showing up.

The good part is, you're getting a large dose of what fishkeeping/plantkeeping is. It takes longer than you think it should, nothing goes right, and the only cure for a lot of things is more patience.

Hang in there. My first fishless cycle was one of the neater things I've done with aquariums and it'll be nice to see it come to fruition.

I agree with changing most of the water. If there are no fish, it won't even matter if the temperature and pH are close to what you have in the tank now. It will get the pH closer to where you want it too.

I'm no expert and this may have already been mentioned.. a drop in ph can cause the cycle stall, you can buffer the ph or simply do a wc to bring it back up.. you can also crank the heat up a bit (80's) I've heard this promotes the growth of bb.. good luck!

My cycle was going fine for the first 3 or 4 weeks, my tank was converting ammonia fine, and my nitrites were super high, then all of a sudden for the past 2 weeks or so my tank wont convert the ammomia, its stalled hard.

So doing a large WC is the way to go, then carry on and see if that helps?

My cycle was going fine for the first 3 or 4 weeks, my tank was converting ammonia fine, and my nitrites were super high, then all of a sudden for the past 2 weeks or so my tank wont convert the ammomia, its stalled hard.

So doing a large WC is the way to go, then carry on and see if that helps?

I have a QC question for you. When you use the api test kit, are you using the cap instead of your finger. And are you shaking the tube so your arm hurts a little and giving it full time for the color to develop? These test kits can be very finicky.

I just finished doing a 50-60% WC how much baking soda should I add to a 75G tank?

1 teaspoon per 30 gallons raises the KH by 2 degrees. When I cycle a tank I try to keep my kh at 4. Which is pretty easy once you figure out exactly what you need, take detailed notes. Once you add baking soda you will see an immediate change in your kh and ph, just try to keep it from falling to low to avoid a cycle stall.

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